Box Score ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Mississippi University for Women men's soccer team opened its 2022 season – as well as the B.J. Pheasant era as the Owls head coach - with a 4-1 loss at Fontbonne University. The meeting was the first between The W (0-1) and the Griffins (1-0), slated to be conference mates in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference(SLIAC) beginning in 2023-24.
"We got our first taste of D3 college soccer this season," Pheasant said. "We played a bit discombobulated avoiding our main strategy. Now we have to see how we will respond going forward."
In the opening half, MUW goalkeeper
David McCutchen made several brilliant saves to turn back the Griffins early. However, in the 36th minute of play things went south for the Owls in a short span.
A penalty kick goal by Fontbonne with 9:57 left until halftime broke the scoreless tie. But just 44 seconds later, FU would tally again and gave MUW a 2-0 deficit that stood until the break.
The W wasted little time coming out of the intermission to cut into the Griffins' advantage. MUW newcomer
Alejandro Pocasangre settled a rebounded shot and calmly sent the ball to the back right corner to make it 2-1.
But MUW gave the goal back in the 53rd minute. The Fontbonne attack got McCutchen off his line and that left an open-net chip in to up the margin to 3-1. The Griffins added some insurance in the 65th minute for the 4-1 final score.
McCutchen would finish the evening with three saves. Offensively, MUW was out-shot by Fontbonne, 14-7 overall and 7-2 in shots on-goal.
The W will next travel to the University of the Ozarks on September 7 for a 4:30 p.m. clash in Clarksville, Ark.
